Simpson denies being aggressor in Miami road-rage incident

CATHERINE WILSONAssociated Press Writer

Published Tuesday, October 23, 2001

MIAMI -- O.J. Simpson took the stand at his road-rage trial Monday and calmly denied reaching into another man's car to grab his eyeglasses, portraying the other driver as a hothead who instigated the episode.

Looking expressive and comfortable on the witness stand, Simpson said the other driver "was puffed up like a bullfrog" in their encounter, which he estimated lasted 30 seconds, involved expletives but seemed like a "non-event."

The other driver "was a guy that needed some decaf coffee," the former football star said.

Simpson, 54, could get up to 16 years in prison if convicted of auto burglary and battery for last year's dispute in the men's suburban Miami neighborhood. Simpson said the confrontation began after he rolled through a stop sign.

The other motorist, Jeffrey Pattinson, testified that he was at his steering wheel when Simpson reached in through a half-open window, took the glasses and scratched Pattinson's face.

Simpson said he didn't reach into Pattinson's vehicle at all and he didn't remember touching the glasses. But he said his young son Justin, who was in Simpson's vehicle during the confrontation, later told him he touched the glasses as the men stood outside their vehicles, trading shouts and profanity.

Simpson offered no explanation for the scratch.

Simpson said Pattinson followed him, and he pulled over to let Pattinson pass. "He sat on his horn," Simpson said. "One constant blare of the horn ... Left the high beams on."

Simpson said he and the other driver got out and argued over whether Simpson had cut off Pattinson at the stop sign. Simpson said the other driver called his name, then exploded with angry words, and he reciprocated.

"He seemed angry. I was more perplexed by him saying I cut him off because there was no traffic on the street," Simpson said. He said he told Pattinson, "Look, man, if I cut you off I apologize."

"At that, he blew up," Simpson said. "He just puffed up like a bullfrog, got animated and just went off."

Pattinson testified last week that Simpson stormed at him, shouting, and that he asked Simpson if he was "a madman or something."

Simpson's children Sydney and Justin, 12, were with him in the vehicle. Simpson said he used the incident as a lesson about road encounters for Sydney, then 15 and studying for her driver's license. He said he also joked to his children when he got back in, saying the other driver needed "decaf coffee."

He didn't remember much of what Pattinson said aside from an expletive and repeatedly said he had trouble understanding Pattinson's Jamaican accent.

Before he stopped for Pattinson, Simpson said: "I didn't think it was anything negative. My kids and I thought it was someone we knew or there was something wrong" with his car.

Another possibility was the driver was an autograph-seeking fan, like those that Simpson said stop him daily.

"I was hoping it wasn't somebody that went through all of this to get an autograph," he said. "It seemed a little extreme."

Circuit Judge Dennis Murphy rejected two defense motions for a mistrial. One motion was over conversations among jurors about the testimony, and the other was based on a prosecution question that implicitly questioned Simpson's constitutional right to remain silent.

Simpson was cleared of criminal charges in the 1994 slayings of his ex-wife Nicole Brown Simpson and her friend Ronald Goldman, but a civil jury later ordered him to pay $33.5 million for their deaths. He moved to Florida last year.

The jurors in the road-rage case were questioned extensively about their views of his murder trial before being seated.